Visual display wall mounting apparatus

ABSTRACT

The present invention is a cost effective wall mounting apparatus for a visual display. The wall mounting apparatus comprises two interlocking plates that are configured to mount the visual display to a wall such that the bracketry provides a gap between the wall and the visual display of less than about  2  inches. One of the plates is designed to be attached to the wall, while the other is affixed to the back of the visual display. The visual display is mounted to the wall by hooking the two plates together, such that the two interlocking plates contact each other in at least two places along the surfaces thereof.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 60/498,264, entitled “Visual Display Wall MountingApparatus” and filed Aug. 26, 2003, which is incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed toward visual displays and inparticular, toward visual display wall mounting brackets.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The existing visual display wall mounting brackets on the market areexpensive, very heavy and cumbersome to use. They do not allow thecustomer to mount a thin television display (or monitor) to the wallwith less than about two (2) inches of clearance between the unit andthe wall.

Most, if not all, of the current wall mount bracketry require thecustomer to make some sort of final adjustment to lock them togetheronce the visual display mount bracketry and the wall mount bracketry arejoined. This locking feature must be activated in order to keep the setfrom falling off the wall. Also, some wall mounting bracketry is made ofwelded subassemblies which are complicated to build and expensive.Additionally, some have multiple pieces that the customer is required tosubassemble to the correct size before assembling to the visual display(or monitor).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a cost effective wall mounting apparatus for avisual display. The wall mounting apparatus comprises two interlockingplates that are configured to mount the visual display to a wall suchthat the bracketry provides a gap between the wall and the visualdisplay of less than about two (2) inches. One of the plates is designedto be attached to the wall, while the other is affixed to the back ofthe visual display. The visual display is mounted to the wall by hookingthe two plates together, such that the two interlocking plates contacteach other in at least two places along the surfaces thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is hereinafter described in detail with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1A-1D depict cross-sectional views of one embodiment of theinterlocking brackets of the present invention showing a visual displaybeing mounted to a wall;

FIGS. 2A-2D depict cross-sectional views of an alternate embodiment ofthe interlocking brackets of the present invention showing the visualdisplay being mounted to the wall;

FIGS. 3A-3D depict cross-sectional views of an alternate embodiment ofthe interlocking brackets of the present invention showing a visualdisplay being mounted to a wall;

FIGS. 4A-4D depict cross-sectional views of an alternate embodiment ofthe interlocking brackets of the present invention showing a visualdisplay being mounted to a wall;

FIGS. 5A-5D depict cross-sectional views of an alternate embodiment ofthe interlocking brackets of the present invention showing a visualdisplay being mounted to a wall;

FIGS. 6A-6D depict cross-sectional views of an alternate embodiment ofthe interlocking brackets of the present invention showing a visualdisplay being mounted to a wall;

FIGS. 7A-7D depict front, back and side views of the interlockedbrackets of the present invention; and

FIG. 8 depicts an enlarged view of a portion of the interlocked bracketsshown in FIG. 7B.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention is a cost effective wall mounting apparatus for avisual display. The wall mounting apparatus comprises at least twointerlocking plates that are configured to mount the visual display to awall such that the bracketry provides a gap between the wall and thevisual display of less than about two (2) inches. One of the plates isdesigned to be attached to the wall, while the other is affixed to theback of the visual display. The visual display is mounted to the wall byhooking the two plates together, such that the two interlocking platescontact each other in at least two places along the surfaces thereof.

The interlocking plates should be formed of a material, such as forexample metal (steel, aluminum (Al)) or plastic, with sufficientstrength to support a load of up to about 200 pounds without deforming.The interlocking plates may be made using any suitable process such asfor example sheet metal forming, roll forming, die casting andextrusion, among others.

Referring to FIGS. 1A-1D, the interlocking plates may be made from twostamped sheet metal parts. One interlocking plate 2 is designed to bemounted to the back of the visual display (television) and the otherinterlocking plate 4 is designed to be mounted to the wall (FIG. 1A).Interlocking plate 2 includes a portion 8 which extends a fixed distanceaway from the back of the visual display, that in conjunction with aportion 7 of interlocking plate 4 that also extends a fixed distanceaway from the wall, defines an air gap between the display and the wallof less than about two-inches when interlocking plate 2 is attached tointerlocking plate 4. The portions 7, 8 may have the same or differentlengths. Interlocking plate 2 also includes a hooking portion 10 thatcontacts an area of a surface of the portion 7 of interlocking plate 4when interlocking plate 2 is attached to interlocking plate 4 (FIG. 1D).Interlocking plate 4 also includes a hooking portion 9 that contacts anarea of a surface of the portion 8 of interlocking plate 2 wheninterlocking plate 2 is attached to interlocking plate 4 (FIG. 1D).

To mount the visual display to the wall, interlocking plate 2 ispositioned against interlocking plate 4 (FIG. 1B). Gradually releasingthe weight of the visual display attached to interlocking plate 2 (FIG.1C) and letting gravity take over seats interlocking plate 2 oninterlocking plate 4 (FIG. 1D) holding the visual display a fixeddistance from the wall. The visual display is mounted to the wall byhooking the two interlocking plates 2, 4 together, such that the twointerlocking plates 2, 4 contact each other in at least two places alongthe surfaces thereof (e.g., in FIG. 1D hooking portion 10 ofinterlocking plate 2 contacts an area of the surface of portion 7 andhooking portion 9 contacts an area of the surface of portion 8).Generous entry clearances for the hooking portions 9, 10 make it easy tointerlock the two plates 2, 4 together.

The interlocking plates 2, 4 allow the visual display to rotate untilthe bottom edge of the display hits the wall. This feature accommodatesthose who wish a small amount of down angle for their display. For thosewho wish to position the display parallel to the wall, bumpers,approximately the same thickness as the space gap between the displayand the wall may be placed between the visual display and the wall at ornear the bottom of the display.

For the embodiment depicted in FIGS. 1A-1D, portion 7 of interlockingplate 4 is flat, extending perpendicularly away from the wall.Alternatively, interlocking plate 4 may include an angled portionextending away from the wall and a flat portion extending away from theangled portion (FIGS. 3A-3D). Interlocking plate 4 may alsoalternatively include a flat portion, an angled portion and a backstopportion (FIGS. 2A-2D).

Referring to FIGS. 4A-4D, 5A-5D and 6A-6D, the interlocking plates 2, 4may alternatively be configured to include elongate sections 15, 20,along which the plates 2, 4 may be further attached to the visualmonitor and wall, respectively.

Referring to FIGS. 7A-7D, front, back and side views of interlockedplates are shown. As depicted plate 2 may be longer in length than plate4 to permit side-to-side adjustment for the visual display.Additionally, referring to FIG. 8, end stops 30 on plate 2 prevent thevisual display from sliding out of the bracket sideways.

Further, while the depictions shown illustrate only one set of bracketsbeing used to affix the visual display to the wall, it is contemplatedthat more than one set may also be used.

1. A wall mounting apparatus for a visual display, comprising: a firstplate attached to a wall; and a second plate attached to the visualdisplay, wherein the visual display is mounted to the wall by hookingthe first and second plates together, such that each plate contacts theother in at least two places.
 2. The wall mounting apparatus of claim 1wherein at least one of the first plate and the second plate include anangled portion and a flat portion extending away from the angledportion.
 3. The wall mounting apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least oneof the first plate and the second plate include an angled portion, aflat portion and a backstop portion.
 4. The wall mounting apparatus ofclaim 3 wherein the backstop portion extends between the angled portionand the flat portion.
 5. The wall mounting apparatus of claim 1 whereinthe first plate is configured to include an elongate section whichcontacts a corresponding elongate section of the second plate.
 6. Thewall mounting apparatus of claim 1 wherein one of the first plate andthe second plate is longer than the other to permit side-to-sideadjustment.
 7. The wall mounting apparatus of claim 1 wherein one of thefirst plate and the second plate includes two or more end stops.
 8. Adisplay system including a wall mounting apparatus, comprising: a firstplate attached to a wall; and a second plate attached to the visualdisplay, wherein the visual display is mounted to the wall by hookingthe first and second plates together, such that each plate contacts theother in at least two places.
 9. The display system of claim 8 whereinat least one of the first plate and the second plate include an angledportion and a flat portion extending away from the angled portion. 10.The display system of claim 8 wherein at least one of the first plateand the second plate include an angled portion, a flat portion and abackstop portion.
 11. The display system of claim 10 wherein thebackstop portion extends between the angled portion and the flatportion.
 12. The display system of claim 8 wherein the first plate isconfigured to include an elongate section that contacts a correspondingelongate section of the second plate.
 13. The display system of claim 8wherein one of the first plate and the second plate is longer than theother to permit side-to-side adjustment.
 14. The display system of claim8 wherein one of the first plate and the second plate includes two ormore end stops.